Ludlow railway station in

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, lies on the Welsh Marches Line between

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

to the north and

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

. The station is on Station Drive, to the northeast of Ludlow town centre.

History

The station opened on 21 April 1852, as the southern terminus of the first section of the

Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an English railway company that built a standard gauge line between those places. It opened its main line in 1853. Its natural ally seemed to be the Great Western Railway. With other lines it formed a rou ...

. Trains travelling to or from the south of the station pass through the short Ludlow Tunnel ( long), which passes under Gravel Hill and has its tunnel entrance immediately south of the platforms. A quarter of a mile to the north of the station was

Clee Hill Junction Clee Hill Junction was a railway junction in Shropshire, England, where the goods only line from Titterstone Clee Hill joined the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, a LNWR/ GWR joint line. It was situated 24 chains (about a quarter of a mile) to t ...

, where from 1864 to 1962 a branch line ran to the quarries in the nearby

Clee Hills The Clee Hills are a range of hills in Shropshire, England near Ludlow, consisting of Brown Clee Hill , the highest peak in Shropshire, and Titterstone Clee Hill . They are both in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Geogra ...

to the east of Ludlow. The engine shed closed in 1951 and the goods yard on 6 May 1968. In the late 1960s, the Victorian buildings at the station were demolished and the last signal boxes closed.

Stationmasters

*Hugh Morgans from 1852 (formerly goods manager at Conway) *Charles Allen ca. 1854 - ca. 1860 *Richard Edwards ca. 1864 - ca. 1871 *Martin Charles Tidmarsh ca. 1877 - 1882 (afterwards station master at Hereford) *Henry Hughes ca. 1884 - ca. 1898 *Arthur Frederick Stringer ca. 1903 - ca. 1921 *Edward Harrington 1924 - 1932 (from 1902 goods agent at Ludlow, from 1924 both roles combined) *Henry Edward Jones 1932 - 1942 *Arthur Parry from 1942 *Wilfred Henry P Glaswardine 1949 - 1952 (formerly station master at

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

) *Henry N. Duce ca. 1956

Accidents and incidents

*At 3.15 am on 6 September 1956, a northbound parcels train overran signals and ran into the rear of a

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

express passenger train carrying 150 passengers but caused no deaths and only one serious shock casualty. The passenger train had halted because a lorry that had crashed into a level crossing at Onibury station had blocked the track.

Passenger services

Passenger services are currently provided by

Transport For Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

. The station is served by one to two trains per hour in each direction Mondays to Saturdays, and around fifteen trains each way on Sundays. There are direct trains to ,

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

, Shrewsbury, Hereford, , ,

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( cy, Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has ...

, and . The only passenger services running on the line that do not call at Ludlow are the two North-South Wales express services that run Monday to Friday in each direction. Ludlow is the fourth busiest station by passenger numbers in Shropshire after Shrewsbury, Telford Central and Wellington.

Facilities and access

There are two platforms — platform 1 is the northbound platform (for Shrewsbury) and platform 2 is the southbound platform (for Hereford). Whilst there is level access to the ticket office and platform 1, the footbridge can only be reached by steps from that platform, and level access to platform 2 is via a ramp down from Quarry Gardens; a long path provides a level access route that runs over the tunnel entrance between the platforms. Facilities include a staffed ticket office (where railway-related books and light refreshments are available to buy), car parking, weatherproof platform shelters, and an accessible adapted toilet. The station is served by Ludlow's two frequent 'town' bus services, the 701 and 722. The goods shed (on the former goods yard that closed in 1968) adjacent to the railway line to the north of Station Drive is now home to the Ludlow Brewery. It has been renovated and is open to the public, with information on local railway history.WhatPub.com (CAMRA)
Railway Shed, Ludlow

References

External links

South Shropshire Access Group
— information about disabled access in Ludlow (PDF link) {{Shropshire Railway stations in Shropshire DfT Category E stations Former Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1852 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Ludlow 1852 establishments in England